The Clippers understood that, with a new coaching staff, four rookies and four other newcomers, this season – at least in the early going – was going to be the proverbial work in progress.

But after dropping to 0-3 Sunday afternoon at Staples Center following a 99-83 loss to Dallas, the Clippers – and some of those 13,718 who were booing following the final buzzer – might have been left to ponder this:

“When is all that work going to start leading to some progress?”

The jump shots continued to clang, the point-blank layups were still being missed at an alarming rate and the defensive breakdowns – in transition and in half-court situations – continued five days into their first season under coach Vinny Del Negro.

It was a scary proposition for players and a coaching staff trying to sort through the carnage of 10-, 18- and 16-point defeats, during which they shot a collective .377 from the field while averaging 87.7 points.

“The best teams (on offense) execute, move the ball and make the extra pass,” Del Negro said. “There is a fluidity to their offenses and we don’t have that. We’re stagnant and that’s got to improve.”

Considering the caliber of the Clippers’ next two opponents – tonight against San Antonio and Wednesday against Oklahoma City – Del Negro could have added “and in a hurry!” to his last comment.

The starting lineup (center Chris Kaman, forwards Blake Griffin and Ryan Gomes and guards Baron Davis and Eric Gordon) was a collective 16 of 53 from the field.

Remarkably enough, despite hitting 15 of 47 shots in the first half (.319) the Clippers trailed by just two points at intermission after Jason Kidd’s 65-foot heave ripped its way through the net for a Mavericks’ 3-pointer at the buzzer.

But that was figurative fool’s gold.

The Mavericks missed eight of 15 free throws in the first half and allowed 11 offensive rebounds.

But coach Rick Carlisle’s team – playing with the kind of fluidity on offense of which Del Negro spoke – limited the Clippers to four offensive rebounds in the second half, while knocking in 13 of 14 free throws after intermission.

At the other end, the Clippers’ best offensive weapons struggled with their shots as Kaman finished 5 of 15, Davis 3 of 10, Griffin 4 of 15 and Gordon 2 of 9 (including 1 of 6 on 3-pointers).

The Mavericks’ corps of seven-footers – Nowitzki, Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood – were imposing road blocks to the rim, and Kidd, Butler and Jason Terry are each reasonable good defenders.

But a lot of those misses were of the usually makeable variety.

“I’m missing too many (close-in) shots and it’s killing me,” Kaman said afterward, alluding to his stunning 14-of-47 shooting this season. “We’ve got to get this figured out or we’re going to dig ourselves a hole. I’m just glad we have another game (tonight) so I can come out and start making some shots.”

Gordon, who has missed 15 of 18 from behind the 3-point arc, was asked about the team’s adjustment to the new players and coaching staff.

“It’s always a learning process,” he said, “but we can’t use that as an excuse. We’re averaging 80 points per game and you can’t beat people that way.”

“There is no easy answer to this stuff,” he said. “We want to play better and we will play better – when, I don’t know. It’s a daily process and, sure, you get frustrated a little bit. But we’ll keep fighting and grinding it out and find ways to get better.”

It’s an approach the most veteran member of a young team subscribes to.

“We are way out of sync, as a collective unit,” Davis said. “And if we are going to be the team we want to be, we have to collectively mature as a unit. It’s not one person – it’s definitely not one person. It’s a collective maturity we have to go through.”

He has no issue with the way Del Negro and his staff are trying to get the Clippers to play.

“Our gameplan works and what we are being taught in practice works,” he said. “Once we realized that the game is as much a mental game as much as it is a physical game, then we’ll be capable of running off some wins.”

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